Sukkot: a full week of Jewish holiday goodness!

Wow, another holiday. Not a surprise that this time of the year is known as the High Holy Days. There’s just too many of them! After Rosh HaShana (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur and now Sukkot, it’s been stop and start at work for the last month. And let’s not get started on the piles of food that have been gorged upon. Oh dear, I see a marathon session at the gym beckoning…

Anyway, Sukkot. It’s a special holiday in which you’ll see a plethora of special huts everywhere – these huts are known as sukkas. Often built out of old sheets and some wooden poles to hold it all together, many families invite their friends and family to visit, and even eat meals in the sukka. The decor of the interior of the sukka can range from totally bland to lavishly decorated with pictures, tapestries, hanging fruits and ornaments. In the pictures below you can see my in-laws going the home-made route…with home-made ornaments also aplenty.

Sukkot is known as “The Time of our Rejoicing” or “The Feast of the Tabernacles“, where it is seen as a blessing to sit in the sukka, eating, singing, telling stories – just like in the days of old, when the Jews first left Egypt and lived in tents in the desert.

Sukkot lasts for 7 days. It is followed by Simchat Torah “The joy of the Torah”, which is an especially happy celebration during which the very last portion of the Torah is read in the synagogue during morning services and, in order to convey the idea that Torah study never ends, the very first portion of the Torah (the beginning of Genesis) is read immediately after.